Vocus Satellite - Starlink provides regional connectivity

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Effective internet connectivity relies on integrated network solutions, and Vocus is a key player when it comes to the provision of fibre optic cable and low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications to the most remote regions of Australia.

And given so many Australian mining operations are located in regional areas of the country, this is especially valuable in the resources industry. One of the most common challenges is the lack of infrastructure in remote areas of Australia or the investment for the cost to build.

In order to support this remote need for connectivity, a range of options are considered depending on the length of the proposed project site and the number of workers who will be deployed over the duration of the project. Satellite services provide a low-cost option when your business requires a semi-permanent internet connection or diversity for fibre.

In a rapidly evolving digital world, mining is no different from so many other industries in that high-speed, low-latency internet is critical for business.

Last November, Vocus entered into an agreement with SpaceX to offer Starlink Business, powered by satellites in LEO (low earth orbit), to Australian enterprise and government customers.

Vocus Satellite – Starlink, provides premium installation or the option of self-installation, 100 per cent Australian-based support, and integrated with our existing network solutions.

Vocus Satellite – Starlink provides a high-gain antenna, additional throughput allocation and extreme weather performance, helping ensure high bandwidth and low latency for those critical operations that need 24x7 connectivity.

Vocus Chief Executive for Enterprise and Government, Andrew Wildblood, said “Starlink is innovation at its best, with some of the smartest minds in the industry and a phenomenal satellite broadband product,” he said. “Vocus is excited to be one of the first telcos in the world to work with Starlink to bring this to customers.”

Vocus have found that Enterprise and government customers need a technical and service experience that is above and beyond – and at Vocus our people know how to work with large companies, can project manage installations, provide tailored services and consistently deliver brilliantly responsive assurance. And that’s Vocus’ specialty.

For customers on Vocus’ fibre network running mission-critical operations at their sites, with Vocus Satellite – Starlink they will now have another high performance, attractively priced option for reach and redundancy, providing extra assurance for business continuity, with personalised service built on industry best practice.

Vocus continues to build its communications network underpinning smart technologies, a data-hungry ‘fly in, fly out’ (FIFO) workforce and mining communities that are increasingly dependent on fast and reliable internet connectivity.

“Many organisations across the resources sector are perceiving the benefits from our network connectivity solutions”, Vocus national industry lead Simon Head said.

The substantial investment by Vocus across the Pilbara has resulted in the completed Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable (DJSC) project. This is a 1000km high-capacity optic spur from the Australian Singapore Cable (ASC) to a pre-existing cable at Port Hedland forming the DJSC.

The DJSC is designed to provide a geographically diverse and protected wet route from the Pilbara to Perth, as well as a direct low-latency network to Singapore, providing connectivity to many major cloud computing hyperscalers.

The increases in data capacity derived from the DJCS will encourage the extension of cloud computing platforms and services into the Pilbara, and attract edge computing data centre providers for regional and remote Australia.

“Many organisations across the resources sector are perceiving the benefits from our network connectivity solutions and the ability to access both Perth and south-east Asia as extremely attractive, especially from the perspective of cloud computing services,” Simon Head said.

On target for completion later this year the 1600km Project Horizon, is designed to complete a ‘western loop’ of network assets by connecting Geraldton to Port Hedland, providing further internet connectivity to the Pilbara’s commodities extraction operations.

Vocus is also making a significant competitive and structural impact on regional pricing across the Pilbara and more broadly across Australia. There is now a strong correlation between the company’s significant geographic coverage and a shift in incumbent pricing to metro equivalent rate cards.

When Vocus completes the Horizon Cable System the western rings will provide a figure of eight cable system that has multiple terrestrial and sub-sea paths out of West Australia’s most expansive resources provinces. Having the sub-sea routes provides significant protection from adverse weather events over land that can impact long-haul terrestrial based systems.

Vocus’ communications infrastructure is a game-changer for the connectivity dynamic across Australia.